At the end of 1932, Hu Zongnan, who pursued the Red Army, entered Beiba, Liu Maoen's department marched to Wanyuan, Tian Songyao's command post troops were divided into two ways to counterattack Tongjiang, and the Red Army soldiers were divided into three roads, blocking Liu Maoen with one part, and the other two ways counterattacked Tian Songyao, Xu Xiangqian personally led the main force in Majiaping, killing Niuping to defeat the main force of the Tian army, and then defeated the counterattack of Tian Songyao's seven regiments in Qingjiangdu, and attacked Bazhong County in January 33, and the other road entered Nanjiang County under the leadership of Wang Shusheng.

In Bazhong, Nanjiang lost the northern earthquake in Sichuan, Liu Xiang hurriedly transferred the support of Wang Lingji's headquarters to stabilize the battle line in the Enyang River area, and the other way was reinforced by Deng Xihou's Xia Shouxun Division to stabilize the battle line in the area of Linjiagou and Persimmon Shuping. Chiang Kai-shek had no choice but to order Hu Zongnan, who had crossed Daba Mountain, and Liu Maoen, who was close to Wanyuan, to retreat to the northern foot of Daba Mountain, and the pressure on the Red Army's northern and western fronts suddenly disappeared, and they gained a foothold in the three counties of Tongnanba, and at the end of January, the Sichuan-Shaanxi Soviet Political Axe was established, Zhang Guotao was appointed chairman, Xu Xiangqian was appointed commander-in-chief, Chen Changhao was appointed political commissar, and Jiang Xianyun disappeared from the leadership list.

At the end of December, the Sichuan United Development Company was established, including all the warlord forces of Chuankang, Zhuang Jihua, the leader of the Southwest Development Task Force, served as the chairman, and the American businessman Mei Yuntian served as the general manager, headquartered in Yucheng; On the ninth day of January, the establishment of the Sichuan Development Bank was announced, and the president was Mei Yuntian.

At the end of January, the county mayor's meeting of Yucheng and the surrounding 16 counties was held in Yucheng, at which the mayor of Yucheng He Guoguang and the deputy mayor Zhuang Jihua announced the three-year plan for the future development of Yucheng:

1. Build roads and build a highway system that runs through 16 counties. The first phase of construction includes the Yufeng Line, from Yucheng to Fuling Fengdu via Changshou; Chongqing South Line, the highway from Yucheng to Nanchong via Hechuan and Wusheng; Yuqi Line, the highway from Yucheng to Qijiang; Chengdu-Chongqing line, a highway from Yucheng to Chengdu.

When the highway is repaired to the county and township districts, the county and township have the responsibility to call the migrant workers needed for the construction site, and the wages are paid by the project headquarters.

2. The task force of the task force stationed in each county is to guide the county government axe to implement the policies promulgated by the development team, and the county government axe must fully assist the task force in carrying out its work.

3. The purpose of replacing the title deed is to check the land resources of the city.

The original title deed must be replaced with a new title deed within half a year, and when the title deed is replaced, the original title deed must be used as a voucher, and the land owner must be replaced in person, and the county land bureau and the work team will go to the villages to handle it, and no fees shall be charged under any pretext during the new certificate process.

Fourth, rectify tax collection and abolish all agricultural taxes, livestock taxes, taxes on mountains, forests, fruits, trees, and polls in the rural areas from now on; Commercial tax is only levied on business tax, which is taxed at a rate of 2%; Abolish all entry taxes and revoke all tax cards.

5. To develop education, eight years of compulsory education shall be implemented in all 16 counties, including five years of primary education and three years of junior secondary education, all tuition and miscellaneous fees and textbook fees shall be exempted, and all children over the age of seven (male and female) shall be admitted to school for education, and if there is any violation, parents shall be punished, the first time shall be warned, the second time shall be imprisoned for ten days, and the third time shall be imprisoned for one year.

6. In order to carry out compulsory education, each township must have a school, and the county education bureau must supervise and supervise it; after six months, the head of a township or township that has not built a school shall be dismissed from his post, and if the size of the school cannot accommodate all the students in the township or township, he shall also be dismissed; if a quarter of the townships and towns in the county have not built a school, the director of the county education bureau and the county magistrate shall be dismissed from their posts, and if a quarter of the schools built in the townships and towns do not meet the requirements, the director of the county education bureau and the county magistrate shall also be dismissed. The funds for the construction of the school are provided by the Southwest Development Task Force, and the county education bureaus are responsible for declaring.

7. Establish military service centers in all townships and towns to register all young and middle-aged people between the ages of 18 and 30.

8. Industrial promotion plan to encourage the development of industry; The county government should intensify efforts to develop the industries of the counties, and all those who invest in Western-style factories should be supported by land taxation and vigorously assist in their development, and all factories will be exempted from tax for three years from the day of operation.

There was silence in the venue, and the sixteen county magistrates looked stupidly at Zhuang Jihua, the deputy mayor who read out the plan, and originally thought that the county magistrates who had just come to walk through the motions to meet their new bosses did not expect to receive such a "big gift".

"Mayor He, Vice Mayor Zhuang," Changshou County Magistrate stood up and said: "To be honest, this is all a good thing, there is no problem with road construction, tax reduction, and land deed, but this development of education, if all children aged seven to sixteen are admitted to school, the existing school is definitely not enough, taking our longevity as an example, there are fourteen towns, of which eight towns have schools, and there is a middle school in the county, a total of one hundred and six teachers, more than eight hundred students, if the compulsory education system is implemented, the expansion of schools is inevitable, this is good to say, But where did this teacher come from? ”

Zhuang Jihua made a gesture and asked him to sit down, and then said: "This problem has been considered by the municipal axe, we think there are two ways to solve it, the municipal axe is recruited from all over Sichuan, and the other is that your county political axe can also come forward to recruit a group of people, but the municipal axe has drawn a line, the worst primary school teacher must also graduate from senior high school, junior high school teachers must have a secondary college degree or above, as well as teacher salary, the minimum salary of primary school teachers is 60 oceans, and the salary of junior high school teachers is at least 80 oceans, Senior high school teachers have a minimum of 140 yuan, I don't believe it, high salaries can't recruit talents! ”

The salary of the county magistrates here is only more than 20 yuan, and the salary of ordinary workers is only about 10 yuan, and the salary of one stone of rice (about 160 catties) in Yucheng is less than 30 yuan.

"That's so tall." There was another exclamation at the meeting, and then someone immediately stood up and raised an objection: "Vice Mayor Zhuang, the tax cut has already caused the financial revenue of the political axe to decline, and if such a high salary is given, it is impossible for the county financial revenue to support it." ”

"The education budget is funded by the municipal axe, including the salaries of teachers, and how much is counted." Zhuang Jihua added quietly: "However, the ugly words are ahead, the education funds are earmarked, and no corruption or embezzlement is allowed. ”

"There is another question, after the establishment of the military service center, how to deal with the regimental affairs office?" A county magistrate asked.

"The personnel of the regimental affairs office will be diverted, some of them will be transferred to the military service center, some of them will be transferred to the work team, and some of them will be sent to the base, and the base will hold a cadre training school, and these people can enter the school to study." Zhuang Jihua has long considered the issue of personnel placement, there are people in the regimental affairs office, and a considerable part of them are robe brothers, once the placement is not good, these people may make trouble, it is better to simply send them into the army.

"Deputy Mayor Zhuang, I am the magistrate of Dianjiang County, my county's fiscal revenue mainly comes from agricultural tax, commercial tax is very little, once the tax reduction is carried out in accordance with the tax reduction plan of the municipal axe, the county finance is only 10% of last year, and it is simply not possible for the normal operation of the county political axe, this tax reduction can not be carried out gradually."

"No, the tax cuts have to happen immediately. Everyone also knows that the communist bandits in northern Sichuan are making a lot of trouble, why can they make such a fierce scene, how many cases of resistance to donations and taxes occurred in various parts of Sichuan last year, and the rural economy has been in great difficulty due to years of war, and ordinary peasants are living on the poverty line, can they not make trouble? Therefore, this tax reduction not only has the purpose of lightening the peasants' burdens, but also includes the purpose of eliminating the troubles caused by the communist bandits. Zhuang Jihua raised the tax cut to such a height, who dared to oppose the county magistrates present, and then Zhuang Jihua added: "As for the county government axe funding problem you mentioned, the municipal axe has also taken into account, and the municipal axe will make up for you." ”

At this point in the meeting, the main doubts of the county magistrates were solved, and then two county magistrates raised questions about the military service, and Zhuang Jihua explained to the military service: "In the western developed countries, military service is the responsibility of every citizen, and the people of our country do not have the concept of military service, the establishment of the military service center is to instill this concept to the people, county magistrates, you look at the current national situation, there are communist bandits rebelling, there are cowards and criminals, we have lost the three eastern provinces, the whole country is shouting, demanding a declaration of war, But can we afford it? There are quite a few troops in the central government, but can you say that you have a small army? Fighting a war is to kill people, and the elite troops trained in the past are exhausted, where will the replenishment come from? Therefore, we have to formulate a military service law, and the work of the military service center is to publicize and enforce the military service law in the rural areas. ”

"Is that military service law already in place? Why haven't I heard of it. The county magistrates exchanged heads, and there was a noise in the venue.

"The military service law has not yet been formulated, but the Cultural Revolution has already begun to formulate it, and it will be promulgated within six months." All the previous questions were answered by Zhuang Jihua, He Guoguang sat in the first place like a Buddha, and looked at Zhuang Jihua with a smile to explain to the county magistrates, and he didn't speak until now.

Only then did the county magistrates notice that there was a serious mayor of eight hundred, and they immediately thought that the future Yucheng was likely to be run by the young man sitting next to him.

After the county magistrate's meeting, Zhuang Jihua returned to the base and held a meeting of the task force, the composition of the task force is still ten students and ten escorts, but now there is no longer a distinction between the escort team and the students, all of them are in military uniforms, including those girls.

Looking at these people, a figure came to his mind, barefoot, hats, mud-stained trouser legs, and dark faces: "Where are you going this time?" It's the countryside, who do you want to deal with? Peasant, when I talk about the countryside, I think of a person, my old friend, his family is a huge rich man in the land, and he, who has studied in college and studied abroad, but he is barefoot all the year round and wears coarse cloth clothes, why is this so? Just because he was going to the countryside and dealing with the peasants, he told me that only then would the peasants accept him and sit down to have a good relationship with him, and this friend of mine was a [***]. ”

The team members were very surprised when they heard this, and they looked at Zhuang Jihua in confusion, wondering why he mentioned [***], and publicly claimed to be his friend.

Zhuang Jihua was thinking, and he was silent for a while before he continued: "The reason why I say this is to tell you that to do rural work, we must learn from the Communist Party, and why the peasants believe in them is that they can sink to the bottom of society and truly integrate into the peasants. I don't agree with them, but I appreciate their dedication, and I don't dare hope that you will be exactly like them, but I hope that you will at least learn how to plant rice, how to wield a sickle, how to raise wheat, and that you will spend most of your time going down to the villages, and not staying in the county town, where it is impossible to see the real situation in the countryside. I've made a rule for you to write a work report every week, and the work report includes what you have done that week, and you have been in those villages, and you have talked to those people, and you have done all the farm work. In particular, you captains, you must conscientiously shoulder your responsibilities, divide into multiple groups, and go down to the townships, towns, and villages, and you must go down to the villages and to the units at the grassroots level. ”

"Captain, isn't this the Communist Party's set?" Someone stood up and asked.

"Didn't I just say, learn from the Communist Party, we don't agree with the Communist Party's ideas, but we can learn from their working methods and use their methods to propagate our Sanming Cooking." Zhuang Jihua said calmly.

"Captain, isn't it the same with the Blue Coat Society? Why can't you learn from the Blue Coat Society? ”

"How so? I have also read the work manual of the Blue Coat Society, although they also advocate going to the grassroots, but their way of going down is aristocratic, how to say, there is a feeling that the nobles go down to experience life, so I don't think they can really go deep into the countryside, and it is impossible for them to really understand the peasants. Zhuang Jihua thought about it and said: "I know that many people now regard the Communist Party like a beast and are afraid to avoid it; In fact, it's not that scary, they are also living people, and they also have seven emotions and six desires. Zhuang Jihua couldn't help but smile when he remembered some past events, and then continued: "I hope you all have to remember that you can contact and understand any matter, and then you can find a way to deal with it." ”

After listening to Zhuang Jihua's words, the reactions of the team members were completely different, some of them expressed dissatisfaction and doubts, while the other part was very excited; Those who were dissatisfied were mainly from the Whampoa Military Academy, and those who were excited were mainly students from Beiping.

At this time, Teng Jie stood up and said: "Captain Zhuang is right, the Communist Party's proposition is not advisable, but they are well-organized, and party members can lead by example, this is what we have to learn." ”

Zhuang Jihua looked at Teng Jie with some surprise, he didn't expect that the founder of the Blue Coat Society would have this kind of thought, which is really commendable.

Zhuang Jihua nodded and said, "Okay, now I will send you the form of the work report, and your work report will be written in this form in the future." ”

With Zhuang Jihua's words, several team staff members sent the forms to the team members. This table was modified by Zhuang Jihua according to the work report of his previous life, which is much easier than the work report of his previous life, and the work report of his previous life is detailed to the hour. But now people have never seen such a detailed work report, and they all look embarrassed, but they dare not express their opinions.

After the meeting was dismissed, Zhuang Jihua left Teng Jie, Li Zhilong and 16 captains for a meeting.

"Whether the task force can achieve its mission, you captains are the key, so you must be responsible, if you can't be responsible, I will remove you." Zhuang Jihua is very serious, he has always paid attention to low-level officials, he believes that lower-level cadres are responsible for the specific implementation of policies, if cadres at this level are not effective, no matter how good the policy is, it is useless.

"There is an old saying in China, there are policies at the top, and countermeasures at the bottom, and it is up to you whether the policies we formulate are in line with the actual situation and whether they can be implemented." Li Zhilong also said that in fact, he did not approve of sending a task force now, and he thought that it could be postponed for another year and a half, but Zhuang Jihua was impatient.

"The development of southwest is not only the development of southwest resources, but also the development of social resources. Chinese society has always been scattered, and it is our main task to eliminate this looseness and organize society into a coherent whole. Zhuang Jihua plans to gradually reveal: "And to organize the society, we can't simply rely on coercion and high pressure, which will cause the people to backlash." In these years of civil war, the peasants are very resentful of the political axe, and they will not easily believe in the policy of the political axe, and you must fully estimate the difficulties in your work. ”

"Understood." The captains replied in unison.

"In addition, you also have a task, to develop party members in rural areas, especially among young people, I discussed a plan with Teng Jie, it should be an organization, Teng Jie, you are the proposer of this organization, you will tell you about it." Zhuang Jihua said to Teng Jie.

"Okay, just now the captain and I both said to study the Communist Party, this is not to say, I discussed with Captain Zhuang, and planned to set up an organization, called the Sanming Cooking Youth League, the Communist Party has an organization called the Communist Q League, which specializes in developing League members among the youth, and is the assistant and reserve army of the Communist Party. We also want to set up such an organization to recruit members among the youth to serve as assistants and reserve troops of our Kuomintang. The original idea of this Sanmingzhuo Volunteer Youth League came from Kangze, but his proposal was to recruit young people and form a Sanmingzhuo Volunteer Brigade to assist the main force in the battle against [***]. Although Teng Jie left Nanjing, his connection with the Blue Coat Society was not severed, and as the earliest founder of the Blue Coat Society, he had a high prestige within the Society, and the leaders of the Blue Coat Society often wrote to him to discuss some ideas. However, when Teng Jie told Zhuang Jihua about this idea, Zhuang Jihua reminded him not to just focus on the Einsatzgruppen, why can't he set up an organization similar to the Communist Q League of the Communist Party of China.

"Recruiting young people to join the league is a long-term strategy, and we must learn the lessons of the past when we randomly recruited party members to join the party, and the development of youth league members must go through strict assessment, and every one of them must be strictly examined, and people with bad character must not be allowed to mix into the league. In addition, the Youth League must be tightly organized, and it is necessary to set up organizations at the city, county, township, and village levels. Teng Jie said solemnly, and then took out a copy of the materials and distributed them to them: "This is the standard for the members of the Sanmingzhuo Volunteer Youth League, and only those who meet these conditions can be developed into the league." ”

Tomorrow is about to leave, the team members and the friends left behind in twos and threes, to gather in the teahouse and tavern in Guanyinqiao Town, they know that this separation is no longer the previous temporary surname, it is likely to be long-term, and the rest of the classmates and friends will soon go to various places, and the opportunity to meet again may have to wait for several years.

Among the people who left the base, there were three men and one woman who walked towards the river unnoticed, and these people slowly "walked" along the river.

"This Zhuang Jihua is a very dangerous enemy, you must be careful if you stay." A young man with a hat whispered.

"I don't think we should stay here anymore, the organization was to get us out of prison and let us join the development team, but we haven't been able to get in touch with the organization since we got here, and now that the danger is over, we should get out of here and go back to Beiping." The person who spoke was tall and had a strong northeastern accent.

"What do you think?" The young man in the hat asked the girl who didn't speak and the boy with glasses.

"I agree with Chu Ming's opinion, we should go back to Beiping." "We've been out of the organization for too long, and if we continue like this, we'll be rootless duckweeds." ”

"I think we should stay here, the development of the southwest is a key strategy of the Kuomintang, and we are here to penetrate into the enemy's interior, and in the long run, this is a very important post, and we should not give it up easily." The girl said.

"Yes, Yaru is right." The man in the hat said excitedly: "This is an important position, and we should not give up easily." However, Chu Ming is also right, we should get in touch with the organization as soon as possible, I estimate that they will soon send people out to recruit people, such a big project in the southwest development, this person is definitely not enough, Xuezhi, you have to find an opportunity to get the task of going to Beiping, and ask the organization for instructions. ”

The eyed man nodded: "Okay, I will definitely get this task and get in touch with the party." ”

"But we can't passively wait for the party's instructions, we should also take the initiative," Chu Ming said. ”

"No, the situation in the team is complicated, Zhuang Jihua is very shrewd, you see that any work he arranges is accompanied by an escort team, nominally to protect our safety, but in fact it is to monitor us, and his set of theories is very confusing, and it is very confusing to some classmates." The hat was the head of these men, and they were very shrewd.

"This doesn't work, that doesn't work, this...suffocating people." Chu Ming kicked the pebbles under his feet irritably.

"We must be cautious now, and preserving strength is our top priority at the moment." The hat said solemnly.

"But we have a foundation, I don't believe it, it's only been half a year, and they have been pulled over by the Kuomintang?" Chu Ming said hatefully.

"Chu Ming has a point," Xuezhi said to his hat, "we cannot watch our classmates being dragged into the Kuomintang and becoming accomplices of the reactionaries. ”

Instead of answering immediately, the hat picked up the pebbles and floated them on the river, and only after he had returned two of them did he ask Yaru, "What do you think?" ”

"I think it's okay, but you can't stop working because it's dangerous." Yaru thought about it and said.

The hat looked at Jiang Mian and pondered for a moment and said, "That's good, but you must be cautious, you must not reveal your identity, everything must be done in the name of resistance." ”

While they were discussing, seven or eight people were sitting in the living room in Teng Jie's new home. Teng Jie's home is very frugal, there are no big furniture, it seems a little empty, these people are sitting in the living room scattered, Teng Jie and his wife Chen Qikun are also among them.

"After you go down, you must continue to develop the Blue Coat Society, with the Blue Coat Society as the core, set up several peripheral organizations, and carry out activities in their name." Teng Jie said.

As soon as he finished speaking, Chen Qikun added: "Organizationally, we plan to set up a newspaper in Yucheng, called Sichuan Progress Daily, and you can set up a progressive news agency to develop aspiring young people to join the newspaper in the local area." ”

"Will Captain Zhuang support it?" Someone asked, "Captain Zhuang is first-class in terms of character and talent, and he is worthy of being a model for our Huangpu classmates," Teng Jie said thoughtfully, he knew that Zhuang Jihua's prestige in the development team was very high, and it was not a good way to slander, and more importantly, he also admired him, if it weren't for the fact that he had fully accepted fascism, I am afraid he would also stand on Zhuang Jihua's side: "However, Captain Zhuang has a prejudice against our Blue Coat Society, he doesn't believe in fascism, so he won't support us, I believe he will change, Instruct you to hide from him for the time being. ”

"The organizational method proposed by the organization is to restore the armor protection system, which is different from the solution proposed by the captain."

"Regardless of these for the time being, we will first follow the way of the development team," Teng Jie said calmly: "Our main work at present is to develop the organization in Sichuan, and prepare for the central government's complete control of Sichuan in the future." ”

"Cultural Revolution, why not implement rent and interest reductions at the same time?" Li Zhilong and Zhuang Jihua stood side by side in the corridor, looking at the base that was gradually falling silent under the night sky and asked.

"It's not time yet," Zhuang Jihua said, looking at the empty playground: "After all, rent reduction and interest reduction will hurt the interests of landlords, and it cannot be implemented without the cooperation of effective grassroots organizations." ”

"What about recruitment?"

"Recruitment starts in three months, and two years later they go home, and then there will be a reserve." The corridor was quiet, only Zhuang Jihua's deep voice echoed.

As the night wore on, the people who had gone out to the party began to come back in twos and threes, and the sound of laughter gradually came from the dormitory, and it was difficult for the melancholy to remain in the hearts of the young people for a long time.

(To be continued)